By Nasiyah Isra-Ul for the Foundation for Economic Freedom

It’s officially back-to-school season, and there’s been a lot of buzz about what back-to-school looks like for homeschoolers and others in unconventional learning communities. Since the Covid-19 pandemic, unconventional education has become extremely popular. School enrollment continues to decline as more families opt out of the one-size-fits-all system for other options such as microschools and co-ops. These learning models have become even more financially accessible in recent years due to the expansion of school choice policies that place education funding in the hands of families rather than school systems.

As a homeschool graduate and education researcher, I’ve been tracking the growing surge in the homeschool population and how it’s affecting the way the mainstream media portrays unconventional education, which has been surprisingly positive in recent years—with a few exceptions. Yet, it still seems that, for much of society, people still don’t understand what we do and why we do it, even if the homeschool population is growing. This is evident from the recent call by Scientific American to regulate homeschooling at a federal level, and the constant output of stigmatizing homeschool content on social media.

For decades since homeschooling’s modern emergence in the 1970s, it has been mischaracterized as non-diverse, socially isolating, and economically unattainable for the majority of Americans. These harmful stigmas create narratives that homeschooling leads to abuse, neglect, or a lack of academic preparedness.

Fortunately, things are beginning to change. The pandemic made it easier for homeschoolers to share their experiences freely and for non-homeschoolers to understand the benefits of homeschooling, helping to shatter harmful stereotypes. Moreover, since the pandemic, homeschooling numbers amongst lower-income and minoritized communities have risen dramatically, prompting more people to engage in critical conversations about homeschooling stigmas and how to redefine the narrative.

Storytelling Can Change the Narrative

As a teenager, I founded a nonprofit that’s now called Homeschool EmpowerED, which serves as a national network to foster awareness around homeschooling and to empower families and leaders looking to find or create supportive communities using technology. It had been a dream of mine to publish a slew of videos and short films showcasing the authentic experiences of homeschooling families from all walks of life, to help people see that what we’re doing is changing education for the better.

At the end of last month, Homeschool EmpowerED unveiled its first new short documentary highlighting the diverse ways homeschooling happens and providing a close look at what living life as a homeschooler is all about. This first film, I Am Homeschooled: Welcome to Virginia, focuses on homeschoolers around the Richmond, Virginia, area where I live; but future films are planned for cities across the US.

Within days of the film’s release, it reached thousands of views on YouTube. The success of this documentary has further proven that storytelling is a key part of creating sustainable change. When people see themselves in, or identify with, the experiences of others, it makes it easier to start meaningful conversations and find common ground. We need to foster these experiences now more than ever to combat misinformation and misguided opposition related to homeschooling.

What We Can Expect for the Future?

I believe an expansive and diverse educational ecosystem is a successful one. We have the power to create a system of interconnected learning options and communities that can help each learner reach his or her full potential and blossom into a well-prepared adult in the US. Homeschooling is just one part of this larger movement to make learning accessible, personalized, and flexible for learners.

Homeschooling and other unconventional educational models will continue to expand and thrive, now and in the future. As we continue to fight stigmas and mischaracterizations, we can show the world why we homeschool and why it’s important in the larger scope of education freedom. By continuing conversations with educators, parents, policymakers, education leaders, journalists, and entire communities, we can help the world see us for who we are: fearless advancers of freedom in education.

So as we usher in a new school year, let’s take a moment to reflect on how far we’ve come over the past few years, and maybe even think about ways to get involved in determining where we’ll go next. After all, change starts when we use our voices to tell our stories and break barriers.

If you’re interested in learning more about unconventional education options as a parent or an education entrepreneur, please join us for our upcoming free webinar, Exploring Alternative Educational Pathways, being held on Monday, September 23, 2024, at 7:00 pm EDT. Click here to register.

The preceding article originally appeared on September 9, 2024 at the Foundation for Economic Freedom’s website and is made available here for educational purposes only. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 106A-117 of the U.S. Copyright Law.

Nasiyah Isra-Ul is a LiberatED Education Associate at FEE. She is the founder of Homeschool EmpowerED Inc., a nonprofit homeschool network and advocacy hub she created as a teenager. Nasiyah has served as a fellow and advisor for various organizations over the past several years and is a leadership coach and edupreneurship mentor.